The Way of the Center

Sure enough, just as An Jie expected, this big boy who was friendly and humorous off the court was like a different person on the court. Howard's superhuman physical fitness made it very difficult for Anjie, and the confrontation with Howard felt twice as tiring as confrontation with others!

And this guy is the core of the Magic's offense. Howard got the ball more times with the Magic than Yao Ming did with the Rockets. Therefore, Anjie didn't even have a chance to breathe, and had to fight Howard to the basket again and again.

No, after Howard made one of two shots in front, the basketball was passed to Howard's hands for the third time. For three consecutive times, Howard's style of play was exactly the same, and he played back directly!

An Jie had no choice but to bear Howard's impact. With neither strength nor weight dominant, Howard pushed into the three-second zone step by step.

After seeing that the distance was almost the same, Howard leaned against An Jie and turned around. There was no skill at all in this turn, it was all about forcing An Jie away with strength. After getting the space, Howard easily made a layup, and Anjie took off with all his strength to block the block, but it was useless for him to do so without his defensive position.

"How is it? Ann, I played okay today!" After scoring the goal, Howard showed his white and neat teeth and smiled at Anjie. This smile was very friendly and did not mean to be provocative. An Jie was also completely lose his temper by this guy.

In addition to offense, the inside line guarded by Warcraft is also an obstacle that is not easy to overcome. At the beginning of the game, Anjie still played the role of organizer. In this regard, the two brothers, big and small Van Gundy, are really similar. The offensive organizer of the Thunder is Anjie, while the offensive organizer of the Magic is their power forward, Hido Turkoglu. Both used big men as organizers, but the Thunder did it a little more extreme.

Howard is not at all afraid to mention the high position to defend. After all, unlike the slow-moving center, Howard's recovery speed is not slow, and fans have seen his chasing and taking risks countless times.

Once again Angie passed the ball to Westbrook. Westbrook used his personal ability to break through the Magic's All-Star guard Jameer Nelson and successfully entered the penalty area.

When confronting other teams, when Anjie attracts the opponent's center to the high position, Westbrook's breakthrough can be said to be sure.

This time, Westbrook still thinks so. He is full of confidence in his speed. Before Turkoglu comes back from the defense, he feels that he can definitely complete the offense.

Without thinking too much, Westbrook took off and attacked the frame directly! It is true that Turkoglu failed to make up the defense, but the basketball in Westbrook's hands also failed to score as he wished.

"Oh! Dwight Howard's beautiful chasing cap! He told the Thunder rookie with practical actions that the territory guarded by monsters is inviolable!" Mike Brin shouted excitedly, Howard and West Both of Brook's take-off heights are amazing, and such a block is really entertaining.

Fortunately, under the guidance of Jeff Van Gundy, the Thunder returned to defense very quickly, and they were not prone to mistakes, so they successfully obliterated the Magic's idea of ​​playing fast break.

The position defense after the position is settled is undoubtedly the Thunder's favorite.

Under Jeff Van Gundy's coaching, the Thunder's defensive positioning has been very good. Turkoglu saw that his teammates didn't have a good chance, so he had to pass the ball into the penalty area again.

In fact, Howard doesn't have a strong post-up singles ability. With his rough skills, he doesn't have much to do in low-post singles except to squeeze the space with strength. However, An Jie is not stupid. After finding out Howard's habit of turning around, he didn't let the monster do what he wanted this time.

Seeing that there was no way to turn around and face the frame, Howard passed the ball again,

There are four three-point shooters on the outside of the Magic waiting to feed the ball.

The tactics of the Magic team have always been criticized by critics. One person inside and four people waiting outside the three-point line. This kind of offense that relies too much on Warcraft is too disorderly. Even junior high school students don’t play basketball like this. Slapping.

However, this seemingly simple tactic is really effective with the staffing of the Magic. Whether it is Rashad Lewis or Turkoglu, or Nelson and J.J. Redick, none of these four players scored three points. The exceptions are all deadly!

Turkoglu just raised his hand and shot as soon as he received the pass from Warcraft. Joe Smith went up a little slower. This fleeting opportunity was enough for Turkoglu.

"Brush." ​​What a pleasant voice, but it was simply too harsh for An Jie. In the opening three minutes, the Magic beat the Thunder 7-0!

Jeff Van Gundy quickly called a timeout. Not only was there a problem with the defense, but the Thunder's offense, which didn't score in three minutes, also had problems.

"Reduce the number of times you hit the inside! Ann! You go to the low post! Keep Howard in the low post, so that you can attack the basket and others can get more shots!" Jeff Van Gundy quickly said on the tactical board On the picture, the players didn't lose their minds, and they all listened very carefully.

"If Anjie can't open the situation in the low post, you have to quickly run out of the open space through the off-ball pick-and-roll! Don't be busy! I want you to guarantee the shooting percentage! If you can't find an opportunity, pass again, be patient! It doesn't matter if you pass a few more hands Don’t take the inside into consideration when defending, I want you to stick to your matchups, and don’t even give them a chance to shoot! Give the inside to Anjie to defend! No need to defend! No double-teams! I don’t want to be The shooters of the Magic team shot to death!" Jeff arranged everything in one go, and the timeout just ended.

Jeff still doesn't believe that Howard's personal ability can make up for the loopholes in the Magic's tactical system.

Facing the Thunder's counterattack again, Howard immediately saw the difference. Because An Jie didn't hold the ball again to organize, but ran to the low post and smashed himself.

"Don't think about scoring in the penalty area so easily, Ann." Howard was still chattering in Anjie's ear.

Jeff Van Gundy may be very detailed in the defensive layout, but on the offensive end, he has not changed much. Therefore, many fans will ridicule and ask Jeff to memorize the 150 tactics before starting.

But not much does not mean that it is not effective. After Anjie attracted Howard's defensive attention, Westbrook's mid-range shot after the breakthrough was not interfered by anyone. After seeing his teammate lost his position, Warcraft also wanted to go to defend, but Anjie's position made Warcraft unable to move.

It's really not that difficult to get Westbrook and Durant to break through the defense of someone other than Howard. As mentioned earlier, if a team's defensive backbone is removed, the team's overall defense will also decline a lot.

After the Thunder team changed their defensive strategy, the Magic's originally very strong offense disappeared. No matter how Howard holds the ball, he cannot give the four outside shooters a chance. The Thunder team seemed to have completely ignored Howard's threat. They just followed the others closely. As for Howard, he handed over the full authority to An Jie's care.

"Are you so confident to let this rookie defend Dwight alone?" Stan Van Gundy glanced at his brother. He only hoped that Howard, who was on the court now, would be more determined.

Seeing that his teammates hadn't gotten a chance, Howard decided to attack by himself.

Back-up singles skills are rough, Howard switched to face-up offense this time.

But is there a skill in attacking Howard face-to-face? No, he can only rely on that perverted body to run amok. This kind of center An Jie has met a lot, but Howard's impact is obviously not at the same level as those of his previous opponents.

An Jie was once again squeezed away by Howard, who had abnormal physical fitness, but Howard was also distorted by An Jie's tough defense. For players with good skills, the shot after the movement is quite threatening, otherwise there will not be so many 2+1s in the league. But Howard's work is really rough. Howard didn't score this layup, and the defense was successful!

Howard also wanted to rely on his quick second jump to grab an offensive rebound, but Anjie's card position was faster than him.

Howard still jumped up high, but just like Anjie wanted to block him just now, Howard's take-off this time was just doing useless work. Although he jumped very high, he couldn't reach the rebound at all when he was in a bad position. On the contrary, An Jie, who was stuck in a favorable position, just jumped lightly and pocketed the rebound.

After Angie handed the ball to Westbrook, he finally got a chance to pay Howard back.

"Don't play low post, Dwight, your low post skills are really bad. Why don't you go out and shoot mid-range shots." An Jie also showed a friendly smile. An Jie also made Howard completely unable to lose his temper, but in his heart And very upset.

Although Howard entered the league a few years earlier than Anjie, because Howard participated in the draft after graduating from high school, he is not much older than Anjie at the age of 23. When two young people meet, it is easiest to compete with each other, not only on the field, but also in words, neither of them will be outdone.

It's just that because of Howard's personality, his words to stimulate Anjie on the court were not so harsh. Both sides are using the method of joking to spray very civilized "trash talk" on each other. Now Howard's character is very good, but many years later, when An Jie saw Howard's actions on the court, he had to feel that the environment really changed a person a lot.

When there were only 4 minutes left in the first quarter, Anjie was replaced by Jeff Van Gundy. It wasn't because of any problems with An Jie's performance, but that Jeff's playing time for the players had always been strict and stable, and it was just that it was time for An Jie to rest.

In this way, Warcraft, which had been silent on the offensive end for a long time, finally broke out. In the face of Nick Collison, who came off the bench, Howard played the same state he played against the Thunder for the first time.

In just four minutes, Howard scored four points on Collison. Although Collison can also judge what Howard will do next, his body does not support himself to stop the attack of the monster.

Stan Van Gundy saw that his core center was playing so smoothly, so he never replaced him. Although they are two brothers, Stan and Jeff have very different views on substitution options.

With Warcraft playing for a full quarter, the Magic took advantage of the Thunder's second team.

23 to 18, the Thunder temporarily fell behind by five points, which was the result everyone expected. But in the first quarter, An Jie played more of a support and containment role, and didn't get too many opportunities to attack independently.

Jeff knew that Howard would have to rest for a period of time in the second quarter after playing the whole quarter, and it was time for Anjie to score at that time! Once An Jie was able to run the attack smoothly within that period of time, even if Warcraft played again, he might not be able to restrain the fully fired Chinese under him.

Five points behind? It doesn't matter, Jeff Van Gundy hasn't played his big cards yet.

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